Brazilian Butt, what?!

So, for the entire week between Christmas and New Years, I would wake up before work, grab my cup-o-joe, and flip on the tele'....and every day I saw the same info-mmerical for the "Brazil Butt Lift." And every day I  was captivated by it. And you should also know that I am a sucker for "paid programming" such as this. 

Sunday mornings = paid programming happy hour! And I love it!

Okay - back to the butt lift - so one day after a run (yes, after I had already worked out and trained for my mini)

I broke down....

I ordered the butt lift....

Yesterday, I did my first work out with the Brazilian butt master....holy stromboli...!! What a work out! I had a hard time finishing this short 35 minute routine! There are no breaks...No stopping for water...No stopping to catch your breath! The only breaks occurred when I hit pause and quickly blurted out, "holy shit!" And the soreness I am feeling today is ridiculous.....

I will spare you the before and after pictures of my massive booty...but I will definitely let you know upon the completion of my butt lifting experience if this work out dvd set (sold by www.beachbody.com) is the real deal..

...self portrait...

just kidding

"sweat is fat crying..."

- I say, keep crying you big baby!

Take more photos...

If you read the earlier post, you already know I did not make new year resolutions, but rather I have set goals and am committed to meeting them. Goal #2 for 2012: Take more photos...capture life's little moments..

This photo was taken on a warm January day...60 degrees outside, sunroof open, shades on...*sigh* global warming at its finest. Did I mention we live in New England? In this picture we are on our way to Boston. 

If there is one thing that I have learned post college...it would be that having the weekends off is the shit. The best professional decision I have made so far was to quit retail and have the luxury of a work life balance. Not to mention it is even better having the weekends off when you get to share it with a handsome guy like mine. <3

Followers!

Just wanted to say a quick Thank You to my new followers! I stopped working on my blog after 2 weeks back in October 2011 because I thought, "why am I doing this? No one is following me!" But thanks to my good friend Katie, I've started writing again and am excited to see a few new faces following me also.

Thanks Katie for the encouragement!

And thank you to everyone who is following! Please invite your friends! I would love to get some discussions going with other misguided 20 (or 30) somethings!

Bring it on, 2012!

2012....some say that this is the year that will end it all. The year the World will explode into a million pieces and we will all float out into the universe as tiny dust particles! Well not this girl! For me, 2012 is a year of new beginnings. A year of goals being reached, happiness taking a front seat in life, and decisions, while still being tough, will come easier as I grow wiser in my years (I hope). This is the year I do things for me! 

Now, before we move forward, we should get a few things straight. At the beginning of each new year, everyone makes "New Year Resolutions." And I will be the first to say that I have fallen victim to this almost every year since I was old enough to decide there were things I would/should change about my life. But this year, I did not make "resolutions." This year, I set goals. Goals that are attainable. Goals that take me one step closer to an end result. I've made the decision to not just be interested in these goals but to be committed to them. And you may be asking yourself, where does this motivation come from? Where does she get this kind of view on life? Or you may be saying, this girl is full of crap and I'm done reading her blog....that's understandable. I would probably be thinking the same thing if I was reading this six months ago. 

So where have I found my motivation? To start, I have a wonderful foundation of friends and family who are supporting me in my new goals. I have a loving boyfriend who realizes that he needs to be my biggest cheerleader. Oh, and I've been reading a book called "Monday Morning Choices" by David Cottrell. Now, I am not a big "reading for leisure" kind of person. That is, unless the book is written by Chelsea Handler, in which case I am hysterically laughing aloud while getting crazy looks from people at the airport....we've all been there. Back to the topic...goals. If you are struggling to set goals, or you think you have set them, but you're having a hard time getting started, I suggest reading "Monday Morning Choices." I picked this book off of our bookshelf about a week ago, and I must say, as cliche as this may sound, I have a new outlook on life. It's an easy read and the things it teaches you are so simple that you think to yourself "this is so simple and makes so much sense...why didn't I look at it like that?" 

Now, if you are a 20 something, like myself, and you've found that your time after graduation from college has been one big, misguided blur...then I invite you to stop being interested in something, and start being committed.(read the book..it will make more sense.)

So what is my first goal that I am committed to complete in 2012? My first half marathon! I will be running the Half at the Hamptons, in Hamptons Beach, NH on February 19, 2012. Wish me luck!

Fresh Bottle Fridays

We have a tradition in our small-one-bedroom-apartment-household and it is this tradition that has caused the "wine guy" at our local liquor store to start calling me by name. The tradition is "Fresh Bottle Friday." Every Friday, after a long hard work week, my boyfriend and I both take separate trips to the liquor store and select either a bottle of wine, 6 pack of beer, or other type of alcoholic beverage to bring home for the weekend (which usually only lasts us through the night, at which point we make another trip to the liquor store together on Saturday). It is this tradition that has also inspired the "cheap wine" title of this blog. And cheap wine is what we have come to love. Not because cheap wine tastes better than expensive wine, but because we are poor post grads and cheap wine in funky bottles looks better on our wine rack.

So for my very first "Fresh Bottle Fridays" post, I am featuring, The Dreaming Tree, Crush.

“For Crush, Dave and I hand-selected a special blend of our favorite varieties to create a red wine that pulls you in with notes of smoky berry and a pop of raspberry jam. Around the dinner table or out on the patio, it’s a wine you’re going to want to share with your favorite people.”

 –Steve Reeder on his Dave Matthews wine collaboration

The Dreaming Tree wines are comprised of the passions of both Dave Matthews (of The Dave Matthews Band) and Steve Reeder. You can see the story behind the wines by visiting their website, http://www.dreamingtreewines.com/. I first heard of The Dreaming Tree wines when a friend of mine from Indiana (and the biggest Dave fan I know...by far) mentioned it on Facebook and was unable to find it anywhere. This is when I became friends with the wine guy (whose name is Doug) and asked if he would order me a bottle. When he said he could, I was elated. He then asked what bottle I would like - as there is a Chardonnay, Cabernet, and Crush - I immediately knew I would be ordering the Crush. Not because the name Crush made me want to go home and "crush" the bottle after a long work week, but because the DMB song "Crush" has always had a special place in my musical heart. And now I am counting down the minutes until the boyfriend walks in the door so we can uncork this (as I'm sure it will be) masterpiece. 

And for your listening pleasure..

the color may fade, but the style never will

incase you have a slight denim obsession like I do, check out this video from CNN.com. Note the end of the video....DIY project? Because as we all know, Paris is always a few steps ahead..

big dreams to the Big Apple

My mother will tell you that as a young girl, I would draw on anything and everything that had a somewhat smooth surface. I would sketch images of clothing on napkins, newspapers, walls, and step stools. If there was a square inch of white space on a sheet of paper you can bet it would not be there for long without receiving a new design. As I grew older and entered elementary school I wrote a book so thoughtfully named "the fashion designer." It was about a small town girl, who moved to new york city, and made millions of dollars selling her designs...look familiar? Best selling design, you ask? "a shirt-like dress with tight black pants"....(que the legging and tunic phenomenon that swept the nation a few years ago?) Even at that young age, I seemed to be in sync with the fashion world around me. The passion for the industry did not die as I grew older and matured into my adolescence. I went off to a four year university with a major in fashion design and quickly realized that if I really wanted to "make it" I would have to look more into the business of the fashion industry. Exit fashion design major, enter retail management. Fast forward a few years, from 2005 to 2007 to be exact, and I was on my way to New York City to study for a year at the Fashion Institute of Technology. This small town girl with big city dreams had landed in the Big Apple.